SpaceX Starship prototype fails in space after Texas launch
Washington DC, US Reuters A SpaceX Starship prototype failed in space on Thursday, minutes after launching from Texas, setting back the company’s speedy rocket development efforts in a mission that was expected to debut a key satellite deployment demonstration. SpaceX’s Starship system, a heavily upgraded version standing roughly 37 stories tall, lifted off from the […]
Billionaire and engineer conduct first private spacewalk in SpaceX mission
Washington DC, US Reuters Two astronauts – a billionaire and an engineer – completed the world’s first private spacewalk in orbit on Thursday outside a SpaceX capsule, wearing a new line of spacesuits in a risky feat previously exclusive to astronauts from national space programs. The astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission went one at […]
SpaceX launches billionaire’s private crew on milestone spacewalk mission
Washington DC, US Reuters Four private astronauts blasted into space early on Tuesday in a modified SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, kicking off the company’s five-day Polaris Dawn mission, which aims to test new spacesuit designs and conduct the first private spacewalk. The crew, a billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees, […]
Space troubles: Astronauts’ plight piles pressure on Boeing’s struggling space unit
JOEY ROULETTE, of Reuters, reports on questions concerning the future of Boeing’s space business…
Crewed SpaceX mission delayed after leak in ground equipment
Reuters The launch of SpaceX’s four-person Polaris Dawn mission will be delayed by at least a day because of a helium leak in ground equipment at Kennedy Space Center, the company said on Tuesday, hours before the scheduled liftoff of its Crew Dragon capsule. The highlight of the five-day mission is expected to come two […]
Boeing’s Starliner astronauts could return on SpaceX capsule in February, 2025, NASA says
Washington DC, US Reuters NASA officials said on Wednesday the two astronauts delivered to the International Space Station in June by Boeing’s Starliner could return on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in February, 2025, if Starliner is still deemed unsafe to return to Earth. The US space agency has been discussing potential plans with SpaceX to leave […]
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 grounded after failure dooms batch of Starlink satellites
Washington DC, US Reuters SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket was grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday after one broke apart in space and doomed its payload of Starlink satellites, the first failure in more than seven years of a rocket relied upon by the global space industry. Roughly an hour after […]
Boeing Starliner’s first astronaut crew welcomed aboard space station
Reuters Boeing’s new Starliner capsule and an inaugural two-member NASA crew safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel’s flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing’s competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some of them due to […]
Essay: Boeing’s Starliner is about to launch − if successful, the test represents an important milestone for commercial spaceflight
Space policy expert WENDY WHITMAN COBB, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at how Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft may advance the idea of commercial spaceflight…
SpaceX Starship disintegrates after completing most of third test flight
Boca Chica, Texas Reuters SpaceX’s Starship rocket, designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, completed nearly an entire test flight through space on its third try on Thursday, getting farther than ever before, but disintegrated on its return to Earth. During a webcast of the flight, SpaceX commentators said mission control lost […]